Cut to present-day television viewing. Press the guide button on your TV remote and you will notice that the most popular genre of shows are now “Reality.” And while almost every person will declare that reality television is not real, a startling number of new shows are constantly being produced because there are viewers to receive them. Even as naysayers publicly castigate Juan Pablo Galavis, the latest bachelor on the hit ABC “reality” series, the franchise just wrapped up its 18^th season, with the next bachelorette already selected to star in the hit spin-off. 

“Anchor Man 2” ratchets up the silliness, moving the characters several years forward to the advent of 24-hour cable news channels. As the movie begins, former San Diego news anchor Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) is co-hosting a New York program with his now-wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). Their seemingly sound relationship breaks down when Veronica is offered a slot on the coveted evening news and Ron is simultaneously fired. 

In “The Wolf of Wall Street,” director Martin Scorsese presents a picture of Jordan Belfort that is so over the top and unapologetically vulgar that it’s easy to write the film off as exaggeration… until one realizes that Belfort says everything is true. Belfort is a former Wall Street swindler whose fraudulent actions cost investors approximately $200 million. By his own admission, he was also a sexually promiscuous drug addict at the time of his crimes. ​

Every year, one movie, for one reason or another, grabs more critical acclaim than it deserves. In 2013, that film was “American Hustle,” a David O. Russell dramedy that – along with “Gravity” – was the most-nominated picture in competition during the 2014 Oscars. That “Hustle” failed to turn any of its 10 nominations to gold supports my contention that the movie’s parts are more noteworthy than its whole.  

Appropriately, and in accordance with the universe-sized endeavor of which Particle Fever documents, the film’s style is of a predictable, cinema verite formulation: enmeshing moments of planet-rattling scientific discovery with footage of its purveyors training for marathons along Swiss country roads, engaging in impromptu ping-pong matches under cruel, institutional lighting and, of course, confessing their concerns about the potential “end of Physics” via Skype. 

Filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are treasures of modern cinema who somehow craft one great movie after another, regardless of the genre they explore. In 2010, they reinvigorated the Western with a beautiful adaptation of the 1968 Charles Portis novel “True Grit.” Their latest film, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” treads different territory but is just as compelling. Set in 1961, the film introduces viewers to Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), a fictional folk singer struggling to make it in New York’s Greenwich Village. 

In “The Grandmaster,” director Wong Kar Wai pays homage to Ip Man (also known as Yip Man), a Chinese grandmaster who trained a number of influential martial artists, most notably the deceased action star Bruce Lee. Although Lee is better remembered than his master, things are changing thanks to several recent film projects centered on Ip Man and his legacy. These include “Ip Man” and “Ip Man 2,” Hong Kong action films featuring Donnie Yen as the title character. 

Director Steve McQueen’s hauntingly graphic depiction of slavery even made some people declare they were sitting this one out because they couldn’t bear to watch. The film has seeped into America culture. The long-term effects may never be fully measured, but the recent announcement that both the movie and the memoir on which it is based will be used in high school curricula ensures that people will be discussing it for years to come.

With Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto winning best actor and best supporting actor from numerous awards groups, they are the unquestioned frontrunners in the Oscar race. McConaughey famously lost more than 40 pounds to portray real-life AIDS victim Ron Woodruff. The Dallas resident refused to see his disease as a death sentence and began smuggling experimental medications into the U.S., then selling them to others with HIV. Leto plays a transgender woman who was created by screenwriters as a composite of numerous people in Woodruff’s life. 

Director Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” is tied with “American Hustle” as a No. 1 contender in this year’s Oscar race. Both films earned 10 nominations, including nods for best picture, best director and best actress. Sandra Bullock nabbed the latter honor for her memorable portrayal of Dr. Ryan Stone, a fledgling astronaut who is stranded in space when a fast-travelling band of debris disables the shuttle that she and her colleagues launched in.